I love the Old Testament. There are lots of reasons for that, but the biggest by far is that every page of the Old Testament points to Jesus. You just have to know where to look and have eyes to see. It’s like playing a gigantic game of “Where’s Waldo” — when reading the Old Testament, I play “Where’s Jesus”! And I’m always delighted to find Jesus hiding in places where I never thought to look.
Then behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his relatives a Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, while they were weeping at the doorway of the tent of meeting. When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he arose from the midst of the congregation and took a spear in his hand, and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and pierced both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman, through the body. So the plague on the sons of Israel was checked.
Numbers 25:6-8
31 Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day ), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him; 33 but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
John 19:31-34
In Numbers, the spear of the priest pierced the body of sinners to make atonement for the sins of all of God’s people. In John, the spear of a sinner pierced the body of the sinless Jesus, the one who is our High Priest, in order to made atonement for the sins of all of God’s people.
There’s Jesus!
1 thought on “Phinehas!”